By Bivins S.B. No. 151
75R987 CAS-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to a secondary assessment instrument for certain public
1-3 school students.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 39.023(b), Education Code, is amended to
1-6 read as follows:
1-7 (b) The agency shall also adopt secondary exit-level
1-8 assessment instruments designed to assess competencies in
1-9 mathematics and English language arts. The English language arts
1-10 section must include the assessment of writing competencies. The
1-11 agency shall also adopt a separate secondary assessment instrument
1-12 designed to assess student readiness for higher education. A
1-13 student must take that assessment instrument before entering an
1-14 institution of higher education. A student is not otherwise
1-15 required to take that assessment instrument. The State Board of
1-16 Education shall administer the assessment instruments. The State
1-17 Board of Education shall adopt a schedule for the administration of
1-18 [secondary exit-level] assessment instruments adopted under this
1-19 subsection. Each student who did not perform satisfactorily on any
1-20 [secondary exit-level] assessment instrument adopted under this
1-21 subsection when initially tested shall be given multiple
1-22 opportunities to retake that assessment instrument. In this
1-23 subsection, "institution of higher education" has the meaning
1-24 assigned by Section 61.003.
2-1 SECTION 2. Section 51.306(m)(1), Education Code, is amended
2-2 to read as follows:
2-3 (1) A high school student who performs at a
2-4 satisfactory [or above a] level on the secondary assessment
2-5 instrument adopted under Section 39.023(b) designed to assess
2-6 student readiness for higher education [Texas Assessment of
2-7 Academic Skills test to be set by the board] is exempt from this
2-8 section. [This exemption will be in effect for three years from
2-9 the date the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills test is taken and
2-10 the set score level is achieved. Students enrolling for the first
2-11 time in Texas public colleges and universities after the three-year
2-12 period has elapsed must conform to all provisions of this section.]
2-13 SECTION 3. Not later than September 1, 1998, the Texas
2-14 Education Agency shall adopt a secondary assessment instrument
2-15 designed to assess student readiness for higher education.
2-16 SECTION 4. (a) Sections 39.023(b) and 51.306(m)(1),
2-17 Education Code, as amended by this Act, take effect beginning
2-18 September 1, 1998.
2-19 (b) Notwithstanding the amendment of Section 51.306(m)(1),
2-20 Education Code, by this Act, a student who qualifies for an
2-21 exemption under that section on or before August 31, 1998, is
2-22 entitled to claim the exemption to the same extent the student was
2-23 entitled to claim the exemption before amendment of that section by
2-24 this Act.
2-25 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
2-26 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-27 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-1 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-2 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-3 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-4 passage, and it is so enacted.